2 Answers
2

Looks like a way to say 'hang on a bit before you play the next bit'. There's no rest to put it on, and if it was over a dot, that'd have to be held on. What's the strange sign instead of a number at the start of the last bar?

It's the string playing symbol for "stop the string with your thumb," used on both cello and bass. 0 without the tick means "open string," or sometimes "natural harmonic".
– user19146Sep 4 '17 at 16:05

If you had attached an image of the whole etude (only 4 lines) it would have been clear that this is the mid-point, and the second half is more or less the mirror image of the first half - so it means "take a short pause for breath." You can't easily show the phrasing using slurs in string parts, because they get confused with bowing instructions.
– user19146Sep 4 '17 at 16:09

A fermata does not mean "pause". It means "Keep doing what you're doing, longer than normally." That's why it can be put above both notes and rests. When put above a bar line, it means "Prolong the silence between the notes in the adjoining bars".
– Kilian FothSep 5 '17 at 6:37

1

Both ABRSM and UNISA give the meaning of Fermata as a pause.
– Neil MeyerSep 5 '17 at 8:26

I suspect when they write "pause" what they really mean is to pause the meter, not a "Grand Pause," which is a short pause where nobody plays.
– Carl WitthoftSep 5 '17 at 11:05